Is It Time For a Business Coach?

Business coaches can help to improve
leadership skills, keep you moving toward
goals, and provide objective advice on
handling personal and business problems.

For the past 10 years, I have had a
business coach. She meets with
me monthly to discuss anything
on my agenda and make
observations about me as a leader and
business manager. She provides honest
feedback, acts as a sounding board and
counselor, gives an outside perspective
on my business, and helps me to see the
forest for the trees.
Why do I do this? First, I want to
avoid tunnel vision, which is a disease
that leaders can easily catch from being
a part of the day-to-day operations
of any business.

Second, I recognize my
personal need for coaching. I am a big
believer in choosing team members who
enhance the areas of my life in which I
am deficient. In that sense, I am a teambuilding
coach in my own business. But
even coaches need coaching.
It can be difficult for leaders to fully
separate some personal issues from
business issues. Of course, this does not
apply only to leaders. The difference is
that while your billing clerk can come to
you or a manager to seek direction, you
as a leader, cannot.

To pour your heart
out to subordinates over a lost business
deal or a personnel problem is to
completely undermine the organization.
A leader is

being observed at all times.
He or she sets the company mood. So a
leader’s discussions about company problems
are best held with someone outside
the company. What I’m describing here
borders on counseling, and great business
coaches have a facet of this at their
disposal.

To be truly effective, no subject
should be off the table with a coach.
Business Coach Basics
Business coaches can be industry
specific. However, I feel that there are
many resources inside any industry that
can provide detailed information for
industry-specific challenges. One of the
main values of a well-rounded business
coach is a broad perspective developed
through interactions with a diversified
clientele. Since many business challenges
cross company and industry lines,
having someone who has traveled down
many paths with various types of businesses
brings a wider range of solutions.

A good business coach gets to know
you, the person. They can read your body
language, your mood, the mood of the
company and areas where you struggle.
These attributes separate a coach from
a consultant. I believe in consultants.
They can be useful for improvement in
specific areas. They tend to possess expertise
in processes and can enhance efficiencies
inside departments. Business
coaches get inside your head more and
learn about you as a person — your
methods and motivations. They invest
the time in understanding you and your
interactions inside your company.

Let’s look at what I consider
to be some basics about
business coaches.

They don’t come in and run your
business.

They will not have all of the answers.
They should help you find the
answer.

They do not necessarily have to come
from within your industry, but they
need to have an understanding of
how businesses and organizations
operate.

They should be friendly but not turn
into “just a friend.”

They must possess great communication
skills and be able to have brutally
honest conversations with you.

Above all, they must share your values
and ethics.

Finding the Right Coach

The sources of business coaches vary
widely. Most cities will have multiple
people offering these services. Of course,
the larger the city,
the more depth of
experience and number
of coaches there
will be from which to
pick. Often asking other
business owners in
your circle of friends and
acquaintances will reveal
people who already use
such a person. Referrals
are the best, just as in our
businesses, from people you
trust and respect.

Chambers
of Commerce and local colleges
should also have sources for
business coaches. I contacted
my business coach after a client
told me about the positive impact
she had on his business- and
personal-life skills.
To determine if a business coach
is a good fit for you or not, you
must conduct an interview — with
yourself. You have to move from the
position of “I want to want to have a
business coach.” to “I want to have a
business coach.”

There is a big difference
between those two statements.
Only when you are ready to improve by
going through the discomfort of personal
change are you ready to take on this
improvement model. Get ready to have
your flaws exposed and be the subject
of straightforward conversation. These
are conversations that people inside
your company may want to have with
you but never will, and frankly, probably
shouldn’t.

As a third party, a business
coach is fully equipped to handle this
task. The question is, are you?
Part of being ready to start a business-
coach relationship is having a clear
understanding of the below concepts,
which are key ingredients to making
that relationship a fruitful and longterm
one:

Values and ethics.
A business coach must share your
values and moral compass, or the relationship
is doomed from the beginning.
That may sound like a simple and basic
statement, but if a coach is encouraging
you in one direction, and that direction
goes agains

Accountability.
For a coaching process to be effective,
you must be willing to be held accountable
to tasks and deadlines for
accomplishing goals that you set with
your coach. You may be a very disciplined
person, but sometimes things get
in the way of even the best of intentions
when it comes to meeting timeframes,
at least in our own minds. It is easier
to rationalize a missed deadline in your
own head than it should be for a coach
to accept your excuse.

This is where the
added pressure of accountability comes
in. It acts as a slight nudge to keep on
task and be able to report your actions
to someone else as accomplishments.
This is especially true in the ever-present
“not fun” things that are part of
leading an organization. Sometimes it’s
too easy to put those items on the back
burner when the right and responsible
thing to do is meet them head on, in a
timely manner.
A business coach can help with strategy
and timing of the unpleasant items
on your to-do list.

I also make a business
coach available to my top-line management
as it is just as helpful for them to
gain her insight.
Not a sign of weakness:
We don’t always like to hear about
our deficiencies. But what we like and
what we need are sometimes two different
things. Just as a batting coach points
out what a ball player is doing wrong
and what they need to focus on, so does
a business coach point out things we are
missing in our company and leadership.

Remember, seeking out a coach is
not a sign of weakness. If that were true,
very few star athletes would perform at
the level they do. They need the honest feedback and assessment of their performance
and the corrective measures
that get them to the next level. I, for one,
need this and know it has helped me in
all aspects of my life and made me a better
leader for my company.

Anyone who knows the band
Creedence Clearwater Revival knows
the lyrics to Centerfield, sung by John
Fogerty: “Oh, put me in, Coach. I’m
ready to play today.” When we turn
today into everyday through a business
coach, we become a better person to lead
our people in the day-to-day battles that
make up business. Being better prepared
to meet the challenges of our
work makes our work a little easier
and less stressful.

When I can work
smarter and not harder, that’s a good
game plan in my eyes; and my business
coach helps get me there. There is a huge level of trust and confidentiality
that is developed between
you and your coach over a long period.
Trust, which is a two-way street, cannot
be compromised.

Theo Etzel is an HVACR Business editorial advisory board member and president of Naples, Fla.-based Conditioned Air.

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